The Ol' Ballfield

Save Us, Jeff Suppan and Mike Sweeney! Save Us From Ourselves!

In a response to Michael J. Fox's campaign ad in favor of stem cell research, seen here:



EDIT: It has been postulated to me by a few people that Fox was "obviously faking" in that ad. For the record, none of these people are doctors. One person who is a doctor put it to me that Fox's excessive swaying in the ad is indeed not a symptom of Parkinson's, which causes rigidity; the swaying you see there is dyskinesia, which is a symptom of medication that combats the rigidity and sends dopamine to the brain to free things up a little. If Fox had taken no medication, as Rush Limbaugh suggested, he would have been unable to talk. A recent video of Fox can be seen here; his swaying, though subdued, is obviously still there. The effects of the medication can vary from hour to hour; whether the ad-makers chose an hour that was particularly bad is up for debate. But whether Fox was faking, at this point, is not. And anyway, none of this has to do with the point of this post, which, I swear, will get to baseball.

An opposing ad has been made that will air during the World Series tonight, featuring some ballplayers, seen here:



WOW.

So the best way to counter an ad about stem cell research, featuring a famous person that has Parkinson's disease (his easily identifiable connection to the issue) is to run an ad featuring other famous people (Their connection to the issue? Oh, right, some of them are loosely affiliated with Missouri.). Better yet, we'll use LOTS of famous people! Fox has a legitimate reason to be concerned, and I find myself believing that because of his disease and his well-documented desire to return to acting he has put a lot of thought into the issue of how to find a cure. WHY DO I CARE ABOUT JEFF SUPPAN, KURT WARNER, PATRICIA HEATON, OR MIKE SWEENEY IN RELATION TO STEM CELLS? MOST OF THEM JUST PLAY BALL IN MISSOURI!

I won't analyze the ad, except to say that the only person that makes any kind of good point is Patricia Heaton, although I'm not sure what her connection to stem cell research OR the state of Missouri is.

And I don't care about Mike Sweeney's career anymore, now all I'll remember him for is staring at the camera and bellowing "25 women have died."

I hate campaign ads.

posted by Carnival @ 10/25/2006